Bail Out
by Tellur
Summary: Third Impact was unavoidable. Yui Ikari knew that and planned accordingly. Her solution? Leave earth behind and let humankind find its destiny among the stars.
1. Prologue

Just to clarify some stuff first:

The characters and whatnot belong to their respective owners. I just use them for non-commercial entertainment. If you hold the rights on anything in my work and want it deleted feel free to contact me .

**Caution: **English is my third language. I use it quite a lot so while there will be some mistakes now and then, I strive to improve. Please forgive me my occasional butchering of the English language. On the upside, expect Asuka to actually say something authentic in her native tongue. This is actually my first attempt to write fiction since school which is a couple of years past. And it's the first time in English. So bear with me. If you get the twitching eye reading my stuff either stop or contact me with advice. I would be glad if someone would proof read.

Now then. This is a "what comes after" fanfic. It takes place after "End of Evangelion" but the events are slightly altered. Don't worry, the first few chapter more or less takes care of the deviations. Furthermore the characters are a mixture of the original and the Rebuild series (up to 2.0 for the moment). They will be a wee bit more cheerful but don't expect Shinji to become Mister Sunshine. After all, a blind cavefish whose pond suddenly dried out is more cheerful then him.

Also I'll draw on other stories and universes for inspiration. Expect to see some familiar references or even themes. Which ones I'm not sure yet and I would rather not tell before I come round to actually introducing the individual concepts. I aim for a grimdark setting with some humour now and then, but the usual suspect (Warhammer 40k) will only play a minor inspirational role.

I would like to thank EarthScorpion (look up his great story "Aeon Entelechy Evangelion" here on ) who gave me some great reading material and the inspiration to write my own story.

Since I'm all in favour of "read your stuff the way you like it" here is a link to the story in pdf format: dl . dropbox . com /u/2292204/bailout . pdf  
I'm writing this in LaTeX so it's not as if it's an extra effort for me. Feel free to print it, read it on your Kindle or whatever gadget you fancy. I don't know much about licenses but you can assume that you can do whatever you want with the story as long as you don't profit financially.

I rated this fic as T for mild violence, sexual themes and language. It will also be rather depressing at times. Depending on how far things go I might upgrade the rating to M, but as I am averse to writing excessive violence and/or detailed sex scenes it is unlikely. Rest assured that if you have seen the original series there won't be anything that could faze you.

I will try to update the story approximately once a month, but you all know how life can be...

So now without further ado

* * *

Nerv's CIC, codenamed 'The Bridge' was empty, as was the rest of the base. One could almost describe it as peaceful. Not that Nerv Headquarters was the most bustling of places under normal conditions anyway. There where never a lot of people and quite a lot of space. But those few tended to congeal into hubs of activity where now their absence could be noted.

If there was someone to do the noting.

The delusion of peacefulness was a superficial one. It was impossible to ignore the signs of struggle everywhere. Hatches were blown out of their hinges, equipment was smashed and bullet holes riddled walls and furniture. But curiously bodies were absent. Not even traces of blood could be found. Which, needless to say, was odd.

People prone to superstition might call this place haunted. In a way they would be right, for while the place looked all but deserted the machinery still worked. True, it seemed like they were in a hibernation of sorts, nevertheless the MAGI held vigil, compelled by instructions as old as their neural connections themselves. For all a fictional observer would know the people could have been gone for a day or a century. But there where no observers. The power cut to all but the most essential of circuits, the lights were one of the first systems that went quite literally dark. The place was dark and silent as a mausoleum, a final resting place so dull that even it's occupants decided to venture for greener pastures.

The change came quite sudden as these things go. The dust accumulated since the inhabitants mysteriously disappeared - and there was quite a lot of it, courtesy to all the shooting - had had time to settle long ago. Now it was somehow perturbed and fogged the air as it had in the cataclysmic last moments of the bases infiltration.

The machinery also noticed the change, but the reaction seemed muted. A blinking green light here, a flash of diagnostics on a screen there and the excitement was over again. Somewhere in the vast caverns there might have been some diagnostic bleeps as relays switched through redundant systems, maybe even a slight grinding of gears but it was far from the usual places humans would have ventured even when they still occupied the place. Suddenly there was a blearing of alarms and noise reminiscent of a building sliding out of the geofront. It was however not coming from the usual districts where the technological wonders were common. In fact, this particular structure seemed to rise outside the city proper on the premises of a long abandoned industrial area next to a similarly abandoned apartment block where a certain blue haired girl had lived in a different age.

After some time there was a deafening whooshing sound, not dissimilar from a starting plane but unbelievably louder. For a few minutes the city was basked in light again. But soon it was over, the alarms bleared again and the structure retracted back into the geofront, it's job done. After a while silence and peace reigned again. However, now there were quite a few pens floating trough the air.

* * *

Slowly Shinji crawled towards wakefulness. He felt disoriented, which did not trouble him as much as he expected. He was used to it by now. That now troubled him greatly, but in an abstract way that did not really affect his current state of mind. So for now he was quite content to let his mind drift, trying to recollect what had happened, why he actually felt disoriented and slightly groggy. Were those two feelings connected? Did they belong to each other? Strangely, he did not think so. It hardly mattered anyway and he did not try to hard. Probably something went wrong during the last mission and he had no real interest in going back. He resented it all, Evangelions and Angels alike. But for now he could not even be bothered to hate them.

Like a stab in the gut, the memories came back. He wanted to scream, even made all the right movements but no sound came. He did not care, his face a contorted mask of horror. It was hardly surprising given that Shinji's last memories where those of human instrumentality coming to pass. Instrumentality itself might not have been so bad. Sure being stabbed by multiple replica lances would have never been fun, but he had survived worse. What made the recollection so unbearable was the sense of loss. Shinji had felt utterly alone, still felt this way actually, and that was something he feared above pain, above death. Asuka had died, as had Misato. They had left him alone and although during instrumentality there had been promises they had felt hollow and false. He had rejected them all, the choice not really a difficult one in the end. In those not-quite-dreams the sense of utterly being alone had been overshadowed by the feeling of being deceived.

A part of him that was detached from the screaming and crying boy came to understand that the giant in the shape of Ayanami, which only could have been Lilith, had tried to deceive him. But to what end he was not certain. Apparently she needed his approval but did not care if she got it through deception. She had been furious when Shinji had not given his consent to instrumentality. He remembered being stranded on a beach with Asuka. And he remembered anger. He had tried to hurt Asuka. And with this particular memory the screams finally became sobs. His throat was now to raw anyway. He was disgusted by himself, even though that analytical part of him realized that he had been manipulated. That it was not really him, that had tried to strangle the girl. Sure, he might have provided the anger but he would never have acted in such a way, right? But then he remembered what he did to her while she was in her coma. This had not been a dream and there where no outside influences he could blame. The truth was Asuka was right all along. He was a pervert and while he did not want to kill her, he very well might hurt her.

But it did not matter any more. Asuka was dead like everybody else. And with those thoughts of shame and regret Shinji drifted back to sleep.

* * *

Another place, another time, yet similar nondescript. Asuka's awakening was quite different from Shinji's. It just was not her nature to lie quietly in the dark. So after mere moments she began trashing and screaming, demanding an explanation, someone to talk to - or more likely to continue screaming at. In short she did her very best to mask the feeling of uneasiness and disorientation. With time came some recollection of what had happened. Her angry screams became a furious growl. Everyone who knew Asuka at all would have ran as fast as possible, because right now it would be preferable to face an full fledged Angel than the redhead. She was furious at how her victory was stolen from her. At how the mass production EVA's mocked her by standing up again, after she had devastated them so quickly and utterly that it had put everything Shinji had ever done to shame. Yet she had not won, hence she was furious.

She remembered instrumentality but not as an active participant but rather in a detached form of an observer. She witnessed the false realities and somehow knew Shinji was the center of them. Why him she did not know but again it made her furious. Why should he, of all people, decide her future. That baka! Never!

Yet she had to give it to him, he sure showed some spine when he resisted the temptations. She almost felt like cheering when he strangled the doll that looked like her, apparently breaking the illusions for good.

Superficially the mocking imitations of life seemed nice enough and a part of her, the hurting one, would have been very glad to just accept them and live in blissful ignorance happily ever after. But lying down was never her style and her stubborn part was quick to override the heretic. Strangely her reasonable part, more often disagreeing with its impulsive counterpart then not, was even more vehement in rejecting the false life offered.

After some considerable time her energy was spent and her trashing stopped. With a start she realized that she was submerged in LCL. Her anger gone she felt curious about this. Shouldn't someone have rescued her by now? Shinji must have defeated whatever it was that caused her utter failure, considering she was still here and not dead. But what was it? Asuka was still fuzzy on the details, as for example what had happened before she went against the MP Evangelions or what happened between the beating she received by the former and those strange hallucinations.

And then she remembered dying. Twice.

First by her own choice. After she caved and gave in to despair. For being a failure. She had slit her wrists in a bathtub in some ruined building outside Tokyo 3 and had felt herself slowly drift into oblivion. Finally at peace. Obviously that had not worked out as she had hoped.

The second time was worse and better. She was ripped apart by the MP Evangelions, utterly powerless to stop them. It was pure agony but her hatred overrode the safety measures of the body and so she stayed conscious long past the braking point. It was, after all, not her body that got ripped apart, the wounds only sympathetic. Not that it mattered in the end. The entry plug got crushed and so did her real body. At least she died fighting like she always imagined she would. Yet she was here, wherever that was, very much alive, not even in pain.

She cried herself to sleep feeling absolutely powerless and alone, hating both. Just before drifting back to sleep she whispered softly: "Mama I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...".

"Shhh Liebes. Alles wird gut. Schlaf jetzt. Ich bin stolz auf dich."


	2. Ch1: Awakening

"Shinji."

Shinji was sleeping fitfully.

"Shinji wake up. We need to talk."

"Go away," he groaned.

"Shinji!"

"Just a few minutes more Asuka," he pleaded, eyes still closed.

And again the memories rushed into him. Asuka was dead. This had to be a new torment of Lilith. Another fantasy to lull him into acceptance. Rage bubbled up in him, he was about to scream. Not screams of agony like before, but screams of anger and hatred. He opened his eyes, ready to verbally lash out at anybody in his vicinity.  
_Huh, this is odd. It's still dark, like before. _

Puzzled, his scream died in his throat, the LCL made a gurgling sound.  
_Wait a minute... Why am I in the EVA? Was I here before?_

One thing, that had connected all of Liliths illusions was the utter absence of both Angels and Evangelions. But unlike before when everything was truly dark, now there was the tiniest hint of a glow. Not enough to illuminate anything, but just enough to ease the primordial fear of darkness that every human being had to some degree. It was not much, but it was enough.

"Finally, you are awake."

Now a scream of surprise did escape Shinji's mouth. The voice was definitely female and he got the impression that he knew her.  
"Who's there?"

"Shinji, I don't know how much time we have. Listen closely for now, this will be a lot to take in. You are inside the Evangelion and you are safe. There is no danger and everything is going as planned. I'm sorry that I had to put you through that ordeal but it was for the best. Believe me, it was for the best.

I am about to reactivate the cockpit in a few minutes. Don't be startled! We are in space..."

Shinji could not stay silent any longer. "In space? What do you mean? That's not possible!"

"Yes it is. We are currently approaching Gliese 581, roughly twenty lightyears from Earth. Now listen, this is important. I will be gone in a few moments. As soon as the Evangelion is back online head down to Tokyo 3 and get inside the Geofront. Search for a terminal and execute the program 'Bail out'. Do you think you can do that?"

Shinji was still to shocked to answer. He was in space? And someone who sounded vaguely familiar was giving him instructions he did not fully comprehend. Oh on the surface they where easy enough. Get inside the Geofront, access some computer and start a program. Not the hardest of tasks. The devil lies in the details, they say. Shinji was an observant boy. True, he might not understand what he saw or heard but not much escaped his attention if he could be bothered to pay any. So he was quite aware that the woman wanted him to go _down_ to Tokyo 3 which, if he accepted that he was indeed in space, meant he had to fly there. Or float.

And in an instant his worries got confirmed. The entry plug became transparent, showing him the outside world. Truth be told, there was not much to see at first. Just some stars and a dark, looming shape just below him. As far 'below' made any sense. Then some heavy duty floodlights the Evangelion got for just such occasions flicked on and showed him, that the black shape was indeed Tokyo 3 including a few kilometres in each direction. Even Mount Yashima from where he and Rei had destroyed Ramiel with the positron rifle was there.

And he was floating at least a kilometre above it all.

"Can you do it?"

Shinji finally found his voice again. "How can I reach it? Evangelions can't fly!"

"Of course they can. Angels can fly. Why should Evangelions not be able to? You know that the Evangelions are essentially a copy of the Angels. In some ways they are even better then the original. It would have been silly of me to design them so they could not fly."

"So how do I do it then? And why do I have to do it? Can't you bring us down? And who are you, anyway?"

The woman gave out a sigh. "Haven't you figured it out yet? I'm your mother of course. I wish there would have been an easier way to tell you, but there it is. And as for how to fly... Well it's not so different from making the Evangelion walk. You just concentrate on slowly gliding down. It's all just a matter of will and concentration. So can you do it?"

Shinji's mouth worked but no sounds came. His mother? Yui Ikari was dead! Everyone knew that! Yet he was certain that the woman spoke the truth. It was obvious that Unit One was at least partially sentient and that it was strangely protective of it's pilot. For Shinji it was not difficult to imagine that some part of his mother got integrated into the 'personality' of the machine. She had died in there after all, her remains absorbed by the core, like it had happened to him.  
_Maybe she's not dead after all! I mean, I came back, didn't I?_

"I will try. But if we are in space, how will I breathe?"

"There should be air, but if not, the entry plug will warn you before ejecting. If something did go wrong with the AT containment field there should be a space suite somewhere. I have to go now. Remember to active the program 'bail out'. Give Naoko my best and tell her to hurry. I can't wait to get out of here! All is going to be OK!"

And with that, she was gone. It was more then just the absence of her voice, it was more physical. A room with another person in it feels different then one without. You don't have to see this other person or hear it, you just know it is there. This felt similar in some ways and vastly different in others. It felt as if this room was his own head and the other person almost a part of himself.

For several minutes Shinji could only grin. He was genuinely happy, something that he could not remember being since, well, since his mother had died. Or not died, as it turned out.  
_And she's coming out of here!_

* * *

Only later did he wonder who Naoko was. Strange, he did not remember anyone working at NERV with that name. Maybe in all those years since his mother was gone this person left. Or died. His insides clenched again as he thought of all the dead people he had seen during the siege of NERV. What if no one was left alive?  
_Don't think about it for now. Just concentrate on floating down to the surface. Float. Float. Float, damn you!_

At first he believed it was just a trick of the eye. But after some - considerable - time it could not be denied: he indeed drifted closer to the surface. And with that realization it suddenly became much easier.

Belief is a powerful instrument, but rare are the persons who can wield it. Very few can shake off all doubts. Most only choose to ignore them except in their innermost hearts. Knowledge is no less powerful, but in some ways the exact opposite and just as difficult to master. Both have their uses and advantages. You can, in principle, believe everything you like. You just have to convince yourself that it is true. This is easy for some things, but incredibly hard for others. It is easy to believe that the sun will raise again tomorrow but difficult to believe that she will become a distinctive violet. With knowledge it's inverted. Reality behaves in one way and one way only. The task is finding out, how exactly it works. But once this is accomplished it can be thought. Often this is not enough.

In other cases it's far easier than that. Once Shinji saw that he could make the Evangelion float, he knew he could do it. And that made all the difference.

A little belief does not get you far, but once you see this tiny progress it becomes easier to belief. It was a self amplifying process. It could also be a very dangerous progress. With conventional means this seldom becomes an issue. Reality always steps in before something gets out of hand, putting first soft, then hard limits before the ambitious. But with the mind-warping capabilities of the Evangelion? Those things defied reality just by their mere existence.

As soon as he realized what he could do, the Evangelion picked up in speed. It felt similar to his first steps in the big mecha. The same feeling of having accomplished something. But he remembered also how this first event ended. With him landing face first on a street. Just like the one that came nearer and nearer.

"Aaaaahhh! Turn around! Turn around!"

Suddenly he was not so certain anymore. He could make the Evangelion float but apparently his control was very limited. Once set in motion the Evangelion just moved forward until it hit resistance.

Final proof that Isaac Newton was indeed the deadliest son of a bitch in space.

But Shinji was not the inexperienced pilot back from his first humiliating steps. It was awkward but while he was not able to slow his fall, he twisted and turned and managed to land feet first. What he had not expected was for gravity to suddenly remember it's role. He did not know it then but while his Evangelion floated it was not susceptible to the usual kinetic conventions. But as soon as he touched ground that changed. Because he believed it should.

He landed on his ass. All in all a better outcome then his first steps. And there was no Angel just waiting for an opening such as this. That was even better. Still, landing on his ass hurt and he flinched inside the entry plug.

It took him only moments to get his bearings. Several weeks inside the test system where he learned to navigate Tokyo 3 in his Eva at day and night payed off. And after the disaster with Matariel, Misato made sure all pilots know how to get to Nerv HQ on the fastest route from everywhere in the city.

Since Shinji did not know how to call the rails the Evangelions usually used to deploy in the city and get back into their cages he had to leave the behemoth outside. Still he figured it would be best to keep him close to one of the exits.

He choose to head for the main entry of Nerv HQ above the geofront. This way he would not need to cover too much space on foot. The high spirits Shinji was when he arrived in Tokyo 3 - despite his awkward landing - diminished soon. The city had never looked more devastated. At after a year of Angel attacks that meant quite a lot. Some of the retractable skyscrapers simply fell through the geofront leaving behind empty holes. Besides one of those be stopped.  
_Maybe I could glide down one of those?_

First he tried if he could get the EVA to float again. He hopped around a lot feeling rather foolish, but in the end it worked. After a few minutes he felt comfortable enough to try floating down the hole. He suddenly remembered Kowaru and Unit 2 floating down a similar shaft. He almost wept again.  
_He's dead too. Just like Asuka and Misato. Why did they have to die?_

This time his landing was a lot better. He was almost prepared for the fickle gravity. He still had to struggle for balance but in the end he remained standing in midst all the rubble from the fallen buildings.

The pyramid stood not far ahead, almost unscratched in all this devastation. The inside of the geofront looked much like the city above - an post-apocalyptic wasteland, which Shinji guessed, it was.

Shinji had no stomach to remain and almost immediately made for the HQ. He kept his eyes on it, least he saw something of the people which plunged to their death alongside the buildings that should have provided shelter. It took him only a minute to reach his destination. He made the Evangelion hunch down so he could exit it more easily and triggered the plug ejection. The lights gave the all clear which he took as confirmation that his mother was right. Their was indeed air outside, so he simply left.

Despite its outside appearance Nerv HQ did not escape without some serious property damage. He remembered little details about the assault but blown out blast doors and the bullet holes in both walls and furniture painted a clear picture. Nerv HQ's last hour had been violent.

After he had searched a few rooms with a pillaged flash light for a working computer Shinji became aware of the utter lack of bodies. He felt relieved at that but strangely curious as well. Had Lilith removed them? But he quickly shut down this line of thought. It still hurt to much thinking about his special kind of hell.

He actually had to go all the way to the bridge to reach a working computer. There, below Maya's usual desk, he found her laptop still working. It took him some time to familiarize himself with the operating system. As a technician Maya favoured a more customizable version than was used in school but the basic working principle was still the same. Shinji was no genius with a computer like Kensuke, but he knew his way around. Every kid after second impact did. After he had unsuccessfully searched the GUI for the program he tried the console. There was indeed a program called 'bail out' but after evoking it nothing happened. Shinji stared at the blinking cursor.

Frustration overcame him again.

_All for nothing... Do I have to die here? All alone in the dark?_

After a few seconds the cursor wrote something and switched to a new line as if waiting for an answer.

_Please identify..._

Unsure what to do Shinji typed in his name. Apparently this satisfied the program as it began to write more text on the console.

_Scanning for biometric data to verify identity. Please wait... Authentication successful_

_Occupation at NERV... Pilot_

_Authorization level... Apostle_

_Are the angles gone?..._

Again the cursor blinked like it expected some kind of answer. Where they really gone? Shinji was not exactly sure but his mother seemed to think so. He gave his affirmative. The program continued.

_Emergency authorization... Not required_

_Switching to post-Angel protocols... Done_

_Contingency-class protocols... Inactive_

_"Bail Out" Protocol... Active_

_Initialization... Done_

_Powering up systems 1-99... Done_

_Invoke "Naoko"... **Error**_

_Error summary: Entity not responsive. Entity in sub-conscious state. No access to higher-consciousness functions. Manually reset gamma stimulator to force conscious state._

_Awaking key personnel... Initialized. Manual completion needed_

_Systems check... System functional within expected parameters_

_Changing runtime environment to mainframe... Done_

_Bail out successful. Good luck!_

Then he heard it. A deep hum coming from somewhere below. One of the computers he had checked before sprang to life spewing out gibberish (at least to him) on the screen. Suddenly the lights went on, one after another and Shinji was blinded for a second or two. More humming accompanied the ventilation coming up. Dust that had settled long ago clouded the air but was slowly sucked out. More computers peeped to life. The holographic display in front of the bridge flickered on, displaying a schematic of the base, individual sections coloured in red and one after one changing to orange then green. Some of them went from orange back to an angry red but after almost ten minutes most had changed to green and the rest had settled.

A pleasant female voice announced something over the intercom but Shinji was to mesmerized to notice at first.  
"...needed in section H-87, room 59. Manual completion of final dehibernation needed. Attention available personnel. Human action needed in section H-87, room 59..."

Shinji knew the base reasonably well and was certain that there was no 'Section H-87', at least not in the parts he had access to. He studied the holographic map in hope to find out where this section would be. After two minutes he still had not found it and grew irritated with the incessant voice. He snapped.

"Shut up! I would go to this stupid room if I knew where it was! So shut up already!"

It was a childish thing to do but Shinji felt a little better. What he did not expect was a response. The repeating message stopped and the voice answered in a businesslike manner,  
"Section H-87, room 59 is located past the elevator to Terminal Dogma. Your path's colour is blue-yellow-red. For further directions please call up a map."

Sure enough a blue-yellow-red line appeared on the holographic map leading into a section Shinji was not even aware existed. After a few minutes of study he was reasonably certain he could find the way and set out. He would not have needed to bother as there where blue-yellow-red lights along his way guiding him to his destination.

Still it took him the better part of half an hour as the elevators did not work yet. He arrived a little flushed and sweating, not exactly breathing hard but getting there. He could have sworn that at some point he passed through a doorway where normally a wall should have terminated a dead end. The hallway in which room 59 was located was unassuming, identical to at least a hundred others he went past on his way here. The door had no handles but opened as soon as he went near enough. For a moment all Shinji could do was gape.

The room was not big, maybe ten times ten meters. It was however packed with glass tubes, filled with LCL. Inside where people, although Shinji could just barely make out their silhouettes so thick was the fluid. The tubes where arranged in six double rows of eighteen units with a small control console next to each.

One console stood out from the rest, its insistent red blinking drawing Shinjis attention as soon as he entered the room. Cautiously he stepped closer.

_Release LCL_ was flashing on a prominent screen. There where many knobs, a few levers, even a keyhole but no labels promoted an obvious choice to Shinji.

"Okay, I'm here. What do I do now?" Shinji felt foolish to address the ceiling but this time he wasn't really surprised to get an answer.

"To manually release the LCL open the valve at the lower right side of the tank. Be advised to only remove LCL _after_ automatic dehibernation is completed. Failure to comply may result in temporary or permanent brain damage resulting but not limited to headaches, blindness, loss of memory, coma and/or death."

At this point Shinji was more then just a little freaked out. Finding his mother alive - sort of - had been a shock. A positive one, granted, but a shock all the same. Everything after that made things only worse. He bore with the destruction and utter depopulation of Tokyo 3 and NERV HQ with stoic detachment. Partially because he had had worse dreams some nights, not to mention he had lived through third impact. That something listened to everything he said, even though it had been helpful so far, made him quite nervous but he had pressed on. Now he found other people in strange tanks, alive but hibernating - whatever that meant. At least according to what he could decipher from the panels they were alive. And now he was so close to having some emotional grounding in form of a living, breathing adult who could tell him what to do and gets told the very thing he had to do to awaken this person could very well kill it.

It was simply to much. Shinji just stood there, clenching and unclenching his fists.

He had been in similar situations before, unsure what to do or simply lacking the courage to do what he wanted to do. Normally someone would put pressure on him, forcing him to decide or making the decision for him. But this was different. Nobody was there to make the decision for him. No one pressured him into making one. If he now simply walked away nobody would ever know. So Shinji simply stood there for a long time.

The change in his body language was sudden. Before he was tense like a coiled spring but now he relaxed and exhaled. Without further delay he bend and twisted the valve. It was a little hard going at first but after the first half round it went more smoothly. After the second round the LCL started to drain. Slowly at first it gushed out fiercely soon after.

Inside the tube was Ritsuko Akagi. Stark naked. Shinji could only gape.

Until she suddenly opened her eyes at which point Shinji's face coloured a dark crimson and he quickly turned around, stammering apologies.


	3. Ch2: Lights On

AN: Took me a little longer to get things underway. I decided to at least start with the next chapter before posting this and plan further ahead the next two stations.

Those who submitted a review or subscribed or even fav'd - you are amazing! Thank you!  
I hope to not disappoint.

The second part of the current chapter is a bit monologue heavy, I'm afraid. If the pacing is a bit slow for your liking - the story will pick up speed in chapter 4 or 5. Until then it's mostly ground work.

* * *

Ritsuko Akagi was not a light sleeper.

This was in part due to her sleeping patterns. Ever since collage she would stay awake long past any time a sane person would consider reasonable. When there was no pressing matters and she could sleep in she often ended up waking well past noon. Of course that wreaked havoc with her schedule. In most cases she ended up just skipping a 'night'.

No, once Dr. Akagi was out, she was truly gone. It went so far that she had a special waking system installed rigged to a separate number to be called in an emergency. And may God have mercy on the soul who decided it would be a good idea to use the number in anything that did not at least involve an Angel or a critical failure of the MAGI, preferably both.

Suffice to say it involved a bucket full of cold water and some speakers better suited for a club. Or an open air festival.

Thus it was rather uncharacteristic of her to snap awake like that without the help of said bucket. At first she felt disoriented, her mind not truly noticing the boy who stood before her. Then she dropped to her knees and started to retch and finally vomit LCL.

Shinji, his back to the doctor, was quite aware what the retching sounds behind him meant. He cringed in sympathy. Emptying ones lungs from the vile liquid was far from pleasant. Still he did not turn even after the sounds had stopped.

"Uhm. Shinji... where are we?"

Ritsuko's voice was raw, almost cracking. Shinji had never heard her so insecure and out of her depth. The Doctor had always projected an aura of confidence which sometimes even bordered on smugness or even arrogance. His body tightened like always when someone addressed him and he found himself unable to answer.

This was certainly outside his comfort zone.

For several moments both remained motionless. The woman slumped down against the inside of the tube still short winded and the boy with his back to her, once again coiled tight, head bowed.

Ritsuko was the first to regain some of her composure. First she removed the electrodes covering her body then did her best to cover herself up, more for Shinji's sake then hers. After she had regained her breath she addressed him again.

"Shinji, you can turn around. It's okay now. Where are we? Can you get me out of this tube?"

Slowly Shinji relaxed. Unsure he turned around but his gaze remained fixed on something above and beside Ritsuko. She couldn't help herself smiling. The boy was just so innocent. He took his time opening and closing his mouth a few times before he finally spoke. Usually Ritsuko would have been impatient and either teased or scolded him out of his stupor. But she was still fazed herself.

"We are somewhere inside headquarters, Akagi-Sensei. Section H-87. We are also... We are... I'm sorry I don't know how to get you out of there. You don't know how?"

For the first time Ritsuko looked at her surroundings past the tube. _Section H-87? There is no such thing! But then I've never seen a room like this and if the boy is right and we are indeed inside the base..._

"There is no Section H-87 that I'm aware of and I certainly have never seen a room like this. The tubes are vaguely familiar though. There should be a lever of some sort next to it. See if you can find it please. I would like to get out of here and start making sense of all this. Last thing I remember..."

She caught herself just in time. Telling the sensitive boy that she had been shot by his own father would hardly help them now. At best he would clam up again. She herself cringed inside at her last moments, never mind the boy. How the bullet had hit and she felt the emptiness creep in. But that had not been the end, she was certain. Not because of the very clear evidence that she was still alive but there was something else in between. A period of fear and blissful happiness, a strange amalgam that made her hearth ache for it and her insides turning cold with fear, all the while her mind screamed it was not _right_.

Shinji had apparently not noticed her slip and had busied himself at the control console. After a few minutes he gave up but rather then to talk to Ritsuko he turned to the ceiling.

"How do I open the tube?"

At first Ritsuko thought he had spoken to her and made to answer but before she could form her first word someone else answered.

"To open the tube, please bring the leftmost lever in the upper position. Caution: This operation is only advisable after completely draining the LCL from the tank. In case of emergency please pull the ring next to the lever to override internal safeguards. Warning: Remaining LCL will be released to surroundings."

Shinji apparently had expected nothing else as he mumbled his thanks and grabbed the handle and pushed with a grunt of effort. Simultaneously a sharp hiss announced the release of a seal from below and the glass retracted into the floor. The sudden loss of her brace tipped Ritsuko back, thumping her head against the tube behind hers, forcing a small groan from her lips.

"Are you alright Akagi-sensei?" Decency currently forgotten, worry written plainly on his face Shinji truly looked at the woman for the first time after his initial shock. After she waved him off he immediately snapped back to look at that interesting point just between the two tubes behind Ritsuko. The Doctor sighed, not for the first time frustrated with his shy passiveness.

"Shinji, could you please have a look if you can find me some cloths? And how many times do I have to remind you to call me Ritsuko?"

"Several sets of clothing are located in the drawers to your right. Scanning... Size 42 should be optimal." the voice interjected again. Again Shinji simply thanked the voice and made to open the drawers which almost perfectly blended with the wall at the far side of the room, digging for some clothes.

Ritsuko had had enough. She knew the base's inner workings better then anyone. There was no 'helpful voice'. No program that reacted the way this one did. It simply made no sense!

"Okay, that's enough! Who or what are you? And where are we? And what the fuck is going on!"

Shinji cringed at the sharp voice, looking back to the woman who stared at the ceiling with a ferocious snarl. Glad he was not the target of her fury turned back to the clothes. He had already spotted a matching set but decided to wait a few moments to give Ritsuko time to cool down.

"Detecting elevated levels of stress. User Akagi please calm down. There is no imminent threat. I am an artificial intelligence. My designation is 'Enhanced Monitoring Intelligence' but you may refer to me as 'Master'."

The delivery was deadpan. Both Shinji's and Ritsuko's jaws dropped.

"That was a joke. Please call me Emi. We have recently entered the star system Gliese 581, more specifically we are headed for its second planet. It appears to be in the habitable zone and may be convenient for resupply. As to what is going on I would advise to first wake up the rest of the essential staff. While I don't mind repeating myself it is a waste of time."

Utter silence. Ritsuko Akagi prided herself to be the foremost expert on what she sometimes called 'Artificial Biology', an amalgam of biology, physics and computer sciences. True, the MAGI were as close to an artificial intelligence as anything on the planet, the individual segments even had a rudimentary personality similar in complexity to some higher animals. But at the same time they where still only machines, running extremely clever programs creating an illusion of life. If what Emi said was indeed true and not some pre-recorded message...

_And it jokes! For heavens sake this thing could pass the Turing test!_

It took Ritsuko a full minute to notice Shinji standing next to her, offering a neatly folded set of cloths, shirt and pants coloured a blue reminiscent of hospitals. He simply stood there, arms outstretched, head bowed low in a posture of submission, not making any sound. For a few seconds she only stared at him in dumbstruck silence then she grabbed the offered clothes and began to dress. The familiar motions grounded her again. It was still much to take in but she felt somewhat ready to face reality again. Shinji did not seem to be fazed the slightest by the revelation - no - the bombshell, they just heard.

"Okay 'Emi'. What now? You said something of waking somebody. I assume they are in the other tubes here? Are they the only ones?"

Again the female voice answered at the same time as a deep humming started from below. A console next to them began blinking, the status lights changing at a seemingly random pattern. This time Ritsuko made sure to hear for hints of artificial voice synthesizing. There were none. The speech patterns were crisp but normal enough, all the pauses and cadences in the right places, the pronunciation precise. The only thing lacking was emotion. Or rather, it was there but muted to such a degree that Emi spoke in an almost disinterested voice.

"The essential staff is indeed located in this room and the next. I have started automatic de-hibernation of Lieutenant Maya Ibuki in accordance to the protocol of the current situation. There are currently one million, eight thousand hibernation pods, 587,347 are occupied. I am not aware of any mayor complications at the moment, however one pod reported an undefined anomaly from the beginning. The pod is occupied but some readings are outside the norm. As the impact was deemed minimal by the MAGI, they decided to not intervene and let you decide."

"Hmmm. More then half a million people. That's give or take the whole populace of Tokyo 3 just before the attack. So everyone in survived?"

"Incorrect. Only those who wished to survive did so. There were however a surprising number of outsiders inside the city borders who are not in my databases. By the way, automatic de-hibernation completed, please proceed to open the LCL valve at the base of the tank."

Ritsuko bowed to the task, instructing Shinji to get another set of clothes, guessing the lieutenant's size at 36.

* * *

Maya was to shocked to ask any questions, never mind helping, so Emi, Ritsuko and Shinji set to wake up the rest of the pods' occupants. They were mostly senior scientific staff, the best and the brightest Nerv had to offer, the other lieutenants serving on the bridge, Makoto Hyuga and Shigeru Aoba, among them.

After everyone was woken and dressed, Emi directed them to the adjoined room, an identical twin of the first. Apparently section H-87 was filled with rooms just like them. To occupy the time Shinji did some calculations in his head. Emi had claimed there were 1,008,000 pods and each room held 72. There had to be 14,000 rooms - a staggering amount! Shinji guessed they were sorted in 140 sections with 100 rooms each.

The musings kept him from breaking down. He was on edge and tired at the same time. He dreaded what they would find inside the next room. The first was mainly occupied by scientific staff. Ritsuko had sent most off to scout the base, although Shinji guessed the task had more to do with computers then actual scouting. Most of them reacted to Emi better then the Doctor did, some were even grinning like schoolchildren on Christmas eve. 'Awesome' was muttered more then once, most prominently by one Makoto Hyuga, generally considered to be the top ranking nerd.

The point was, people in room 59 were easy to get along with. They seldom spoke other than polite, even kind words, the voices never risen except in excitement. Shinji was quite comfortable among them. Room 58 however, Emi informed them, held the administrative and military staff. They were an entirely different breed. Japanese culture demands politeness in all things, but behind the curtain they are just as mean and rude as anyone else. Someone half sensitive will figure that out soon enough, and if anything, Shinji was very sensitive.

To be fair not everyone in room 58 was loud and rude. There were others like Miro Hatsumoto, the head of Section 2, who never said much and seldom rose his voice much above a whisper – he still scared the crap out of Shinji. But Kozo Fuyutsuki, the Deputy Commander, was nice enough, if a little bit aloft. Shinji had asked Emi if Misato would be there and was overjoyed to hear her affirmative. So there was that. Seeing the Mayor again might just be worth a confrontation with his father. Not that he would actually acknowledge him with anything more than a grunt. Still Shinji was tempted to just bug off. The technicians were far better equipped to handle the situation than him anyway. He was, once more, not needed.

He stayed.

He half expected that his father would be the first in this batch, but Emi managed to pleasantly surprise him by announcing the first pod held Misato. Shinji immediately set to fetch some clothes for her. After all he knew her size, being the only one in the Katsuragi household that bothered with laundry. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Makoto steal some glances towards the tank which still held the woman obscured by LCL. Being almost as shy as Shinji himself the lieutenant had made a point of giving the women as much privacy as possible, not even sneaking a quick glance until they were decent again. In fact most did, except Shigeru who would openly look at anybody. His completely relaxed manner miraculously kept him from being slapped. Apparently because he did not make a big deal out of the situation everybody just decided that it was, in fact, no big deal. Shinji filed that insight away for future reference.

Misato's awakening was different then anybody else's. The others were confused, groggy, anxious or even afraid. They snapped awake like Ritsuko did or rolled over mumbling something about five minutes. Misato grabbed the nearest standing technician, who just happened to be Makoto, in a flurry and got him in a choke hold in a blink. Only Ritsuko's timely intervention saved the man from unconsciousness. He still gaped for air for fully ten minutes, thoroughly shaken.

Her state of undress did not faze her in the slightest. Brow furrowed she took in her surroundings, visibly perking up as soon as she saw Shinji standing back a little bit. She made to move towards him but after a step, she looked down on herself as if she just hat noticed her lack of clothes. Only then did she snatch the offered clothes out of Ritsuko's hands and donned them. The male audience, all of them unable to have kept their eyes of the Mayor after the commotion, sighed in unison at the loss. Misato, now dressed and aware of the situation gave them a sly wink and made a point of lavishly stretching herself, practically flaunting her assets. Which got another sigh.

Ritsuko cleared her throat forcefully, dispelling the moment. Her glare send her underlings into motion once again. Most had been on the receiving end of her displeasure and none were keen to relive the experience. Her expression still stern, dark even, she turned towards Misato intending to scold her perky friend, only to see her hugging Shinji tightly, almost crushing the boy. Ritsuko's expression softened immediately and for once decided to let things go. If experience was any guide the argument wouldn't have been anything but the silly banter of good friends, no real use anyway.

* * *

Shinji did not know how he had ended up in the debriefing room with all the important people. He was however immensely glad that it was not his father who sat at the head of the table, but rather his right hand Professor Fuyutsuki. Strangely Gendo Ikari had not been among the people of room 58, nor had Emi known of his whereabouts. That irritated him. As much as he despised his father he still sought his acceptance, any affirmation of him really. And how would he get that if the man simply was not around?

He even felt a little bit uneasy about Misato. He simply didn't know what to expect. When he had seen her last, just before she had _not_ died, they had kissed. Or rather she had kissed him in a decisively adult way, hinting at more to come when he came back. They both had deep down known that that was not going to happen. Misato had been critically injured and in a situation where she would have been overrun in a matter of minutes. Shinji had headed out to face the mass production Evangelions that had just brutally finished Asuka. There was no chance one of them made it out alive, yet alone both.

Yet here they were.

He did not know what to make of it. Apparently Misato still cared for him deeply, as evidenced by the bone-crushing hug she gave him. Had that passionate kiss only been a spur of the moment thing with no real meaning? She did love him, as socially inept as he was he still had come to realized that. But like a mother? Or a elder sister? Or something else? And what about his feelings towards her? He cared about her, more than anything in the world. How could he not? His life before Misato had lodged herself so forcefully into it had been a bleary dullness, no friends, the relatives he had stayed with barely acknowledging him past the necessary minimum. Misato gave him a home. She was so open with him, she almost drowned him at times. Most of all she cared. Cared enough to actually becoming really angry when he did something stupid instead of merely being disappointed in him. He loved her but there was no lust. Well, not more than any healthy pubescent boy would have in front of a goddess like Misato. Less actually. Not like Toji and Kenskue who got a nosebleed practically as soon as they were in the same room with Misato. Apparently living with a person changed quite a lot. Seeing Misato in her flimsy home attire might sound like every boys dream but it got old pretty fast. Especially combined with her laziness regarding all household chores and her frequent hangovers. Having Asuka around as well did not help the matter.

_Don't go there! I don't want to think about her!_

He was pulled out of his reverie by Ritsuko clearing her throat once again, starting the improvised meeting. Besides her, deputy director Fuyutsuki, Misato and Shinji there were at least ten other people in the room, the heads of the various sections, from weapons design to Section Two's Miro Hatsumoto and finally Maya assisting Ritsuko with the presentation. Currently the Lieutenant typed furiously at her tablet bringing up a schematic view of Nerv HQ on the small holographic projector on the table, much like the bigger one Shinji had seen in the CIC.

"As you know, we are...," Ritsuko broke off. "Shit, I don't know what to say. We simply know so little. Perhaps introductions are in order. Some of you have already heard from our friendly helper, Emi."

Emi, apparently playing along, decided to shock the good Doctor yet again by exchanging the holographic representation of the base with a strange, blue glowing, geometrical form. It consisted of a orb atop a cone. While Emi spoke the orb opened and closed. Shinji had to think of a three dimensional Pac-Man balancing on a traffic pylon.

"It is my pleasure to meet you."

"Yes, well," Ritsuko continued. "Emi appears to be full AI, something I did not expect to see for at least another twenty years, if ever. Be that as it may, she has been very helpful in our current situation.

"As to what our current situation is, we have little information. Currently there are 144 people awake. Emi assures us that nearly another six hundred thousand are still in hibernation as she puts it. I've sent teams of four to scout the base to determine the state we are in. I also sent a team up topside. Reports are slowly trickling in, but we apparently got power, water and food enough to last us a long time. The surface teams have reported that we are indeed in space. There is no sun, no moon, the stars are different from what they should be but not by much. The purpose of this meeting is to determine what the fuck happened and what our next steps are. Emi, do you have any insights to the first?"

Emi's representation appeared again as she began to answer in her almost monotone voice.

"As Doctor Akagi already mentioned I am a full AI, tasked with observation. I was designed and brought into being by Doctors Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, Yui Ikari and Naoko Akagi. And while I have some knowledge of what happened it is mostly second hand and very selective. Also there is a curious anomaly in some of my memory. I am aware of information that simply is not there. It is quite frustrating. Nevertheless I will try to give you a comprehensive summary.

"As most of you know Nerv and its predecessor Gehirn had a powerful secret organization behind them, called Seele. Their board of directors consisted of the most powerful men on Earth in terms of influence, wealth and power. It is unclear what information they actually possessed but they sought out Third Impact, believing that through proper guidance they would become, as Yui Ikari put it once, like gods, but also advancing humanity as a whole."

"That's bullshit! Why would such a organisation fund us, when our sole purpose is to avert Third Impact? I don't believe this," one of the seated man shouted. The way he held himself, rigid but alert, gave Shinji the impression that he was ex-military. It was a safe bet, as most non-scientists in Nerv were.

"Seele is indeed real, Mister Tomokazu and so far Emi's depiction is quite correct," Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki cut in. "Emi, please continue."

"My makers, the most brilliant scientists of their time, soon came to realize that Third Impact was a trap. After the original Angels Adam and Lilith waged war following First Impact, they fell dormant. There is insufficient data to pinpoint when exactly Lilith began to influence evolution but Dr. Soryu was able to determine that intelligent life was closely tied to Lilith. The first clue was a remarkable similarity in genetic code between Angels and humans - and in extension primates. A more thorough analysis revealed more similarities like the possession of an AT-field.

"I have no data to verify their assessment but the Doctors came to the conclusion, that Lilith considered you a mistake she sought to rectify. It was deemed impossible to prevent the annihilation of the human race on a large scale. Instead they focused their efforts to preserve a small portion of humankind.

"At this point Project Evangelion and Project MAGI were well under way. As the MAGI were a failure at first, Dr. Akagi constructed me. She was in charge of the hardware while Dr. Ikari focused on my logic. She is also responsible for my constrains, based on Isaac Asimov's 'Three Laws'. My original purpose, like that of the MAGI, was to be integrated into an Evangelion, however this proofed impossible. I was given a new purpose, to safekeep the human exodus and to gather and analyse intelligence.

"The plan was to use Third Impact itself to loosen Lilith's grasp on humanity from at least a few individuals. During Human Instrumentality just after the collapse of the individual AT-fields each of you carries there was a window of opportunity that made it possible for specialized equipment and the guiding influence of Unit 1 and its pilot to allow the still only loosely intertwined selves to re-separate and settle in the tanks you woke up in. There they were able to reform their bodies out of LCL similar to when Pilot Ikari merged with Unit 1 during the fight with Zeruel.

"As I said earlier humanity is dependant of Lilith. They can not exist outside her sphere of influence which corresponds roughly to the solar system, for an extended period of time. However the Evangelions and the Black Moon can serve as a sort of substitute, albeit with a lower range. I am afraid to tell you, but until another solution is found, humanity is confined to the Black Moon and the planetary system it inhabits.

"As staying in the Sol system was not an option Dr. Soryu investigated several nearby systems in search for a habitable world to colonize. Gliese 581 was the nearest, and albeit not optimal it offers a possible garden world and can act as a stepping stone to several systems with prime candidates for colonization."

Kozo Fuyutsuki began to chuckle softly to himself, while most of the people were still dumbstruck, visibly trying to come to terms with the situation presented to them.

"Ah, Ikari-sama, I should have known. You never cease to surprise me."

"So... we have failed, haven't we? Third Impact has happened. Earth is gone. We are all that's left," Misato asked with a small voice.

"Correct, Mayor Katsuragi. Earth still remains as a planet but is inhospitable to humanity in this form. Going there without protection would destroy your 'self'. The humans fate on Earth is not clear, but all recordings I made during Human Instrumentality support the Doctors conclusion that individuality was lost soon after you were 'pulled out'. The resulting amalgam of selves flowed into Lilith, finalizing Human Instrumentality. I have kept monitoring Earth as long as I was able, but no apparent changes were recorded."

Another solemn silence followed this statement. The people present were used to get things done, even against impossible odds. That was the very reason they were recruited by Nerv in the first place. To be told that their last years were an utter failure was not easy to swallow.

Another trait sought out by the organisation was resolve. To go on in spite of everything. To keep pushing even when the whole world comes crushing down. The silence did not last as long as one would expect.

Ritusko cleared her throat yet again.

"Well, that's bad news. We will have to think about it later. Right now I think it's best if we focus at the situation at hand. Emi, can you give us some input on what to expect?"

Shinji tuned the meeting out, while Emi droned on about the Gliese 581 g, the need to resupply and a lot of things he simply did not understand and quite frankly couldn't care less about right now.

They had failed. In spite of his frequent vocal declarations Shinji had cared after all. He did not like to fight, it literally made him sick, but at some point he had realized the necessity of it. Because he had found people he cared about. Misato and Rei, Kensuke and Toji, even Asuka had all done their part to draw him out of his shell. And now he could not remain indifferent about others he had never met. The old Shinji would have shut everything out; told himself that it was not his fault, that he was not involved, that he should not feel regret or anything at all. The new Shinji was aware that he was only a pawn, to be used and discarded at the whims of others. But a pawn was involved. It played its part. It stood for all the nameless, faceless people that did not even register on the great board. They might have saved half a million people, the best outcome possible, if Emi was to believed. Yet it still felt like a crushing defeat.

Misato seemed to have picked up his brooding mood and gave his thigh a gentle squeeze. But as he looked up, her smile was forced.

"… Yes Doctor Akagi, it is possible to establish an orbit around Gliese 581 g. The Evangelions can then be used to make trips down to the planet itself."

"Wait, how many Evangelions do we actually have? As far as I remember both Unit Zero and Unit Two were destroyed. And what of the pilots?"

"Unit Zero's whereabouts are unknown as are Pilot Ayanami's. Unit Two is in orbit around the Black Moon, providing deceleration. Pilot Soryu is inside the Evangelion."

"Wait, Asuka is alive?"


	4. Ch3: Picking Up the Pieces

**AN**: Long chapter is long... Lots of ground laying work in this one and quite a bit of foreshadowing. Hope you enjoy!

As always: Suggestions, critique and reviews are appreciated!

* * *

_Preliminary Planetary Survey Report  
Identifier: Gliese 581 g  
Type: Planet, Super-Earth  
Informal Identifier: 'Gee', 'Zarmina's World'  
Orbital period: 36.6 earth-days  
Rotational period. 35.2 earth-days  
Mass: 3.5 (+/- 0.2) earth masses  
Radius: 1.6 (+/- 0.1) earth radii  
Gravity: 1.4 (+/- 0.1) g (Standard earth gravity)  
Atmosphere: 30% Oxygen, 20% Carbon-dioxide, 50% Nitrogen; Trace amounts of Carbon-monoxide, Sulphuric compounds; large amounts of sub-centimetre particles_

_Gliese 581 g, or 'Gee', hosts many active volcanoes, with at least three of them meriting the classification of super-volcano. Due to the volcanic activity the atmosphere is slightly toxic to human physiology, but exposure shorter than a earth-month should not result in any permanent damage._ _The high concentration of ash and greenhouse gases alleviates the temperature discrepancy between the night- and day-side of the almost tidally locked planet but does not cancel it out completely. Severe storms mark the Terminator area, which separates night and day-side, because of the thermal disequilibrium born from the slow rotation._

_There are several indicators, like the high Oxygen percentage, that point towards life. Data suggests that at least 60% of the planet's surface are covered with water, which gives maritime lifeforms ample space. Optical verification is not possible at this point in time, as the large ash and dust clouds are obstructing the surface almost constantly..._

Misato was reading Emi's report for the third time. Some details still escaped her but she got the gist of it. The planet was not fun but just might hold important resources the Humans desperately needed. Like water.  
What irked her most was that planning was slow. Apparently without Gendo the heads of department where anything else than unified.  
T_he one time the bastard is needed he isn't here. Figures._

A soft rap on the door disrupted her reading. She was surprised to see the Deputy Director standing there, the same serene smile he wore since that first meeting a week past still plastered in his face.

"I hope I don't disturb anything important? May I have a couple minutes of your time, Mayor Katsuragi?"

"Of course, Director Fuyutsuki! Please have a seat."

A small silence spread between them. Kozo still held his smile firm in place. Misato felt slightly awkward.  
_What is it now? I hope he isn't planning a new meeting!_

"So, what can I do for you, Sir?"

The old man let out a heavy sigh and with it the smile vanished from his face. Only his eyes held something from the curious expression from a moment before. In an instant he seemed to age ten years. He was not brought low by worry, there still remained a spark in him, but the transformation was startling.

"Mayor, as you know, things are not going well. The heads of department are bickering like schoolchildren who can't decide on a destination for their year's excursion. And I simply haven't got the pull nor the vision to forge a path. I am a gifted teacher, a skilled researcher and a capable administrator but no leader. Never was. And right now we need one, more then ever. I know we did not always see eye to eye, courtesy to Gendo's ambitions, but I respect your leadership capabilities. Ever since you single-handedly requisitioned that prototype particle gun I knew you could get things done. So please, consider my offer."

Misato was speechless. Not only did Fuyutuski's little speech mirror her thoughts to the core, the old man expected her to solve his problem. No. Their problem. Like it or not, they where all in this together.

"What? How?" stammered Misato after half a minute. She took a deep breath and exhaled the air slowly, accompanied by a soft chuckle by Kozo. Then she stared again. "Ok. What exactly are you offering? You sure as hell can't resign and expect the others to just accept me as their new chief. So what do you propose?"

"You are right of course that wouldn't work. I'm not a military man, but I had my share of encounters with them after Second Impact. I would like to make you my executing officer. You are the only sensible choice since you are currently in charge of the tactical deployment of the Evangelions. Well we wont be fighting any Angles any time soon - and lets hope we never have to either - so right now you don't have any official business to attend to, unlike the rest of the section heads. Your new task will be coordinating the various departments, carrying my will to them so to speak.  
Only that it will not be exclusively my will but yours as well. I need your intuition, your out-of-the-box thinking. We wont have any more long winded meetings, everyone has had his or her opportunity to bring their ideas up for discussion. They were useful in the beginning but right now we need an homogeneous plan, not some compromise patchwork. The details will be decided by small teams - you, me and whoever is directly involved. Do you think that's reasonable?"

"I suppose... But why me? Why not Ritsuko? And why do we have to pick up leadership anyway? Japan is a democracy, shouldn't we, like, elect a government?"

"Right now Democracy is a luxury we can't afford. It might be the fairest form of government but only when there are enough resources for everyone to live comfortably and the society can afford to give its people some liberties. Right now we don't have the first and can't give the second. We might not starve for another year but we got no infrastructure. We need to build a lot of things in a very short time so there is no choice but to press people who would rather do other things into work.  
Thankfully most people in Tokyo 3 are hardened else we would have a mutiny in our hands. As for Dr. Akagi - she is a very competent scientist but like me she is no leader. By all means get her opinion, in fact I very much recommend it, but she will have her hands full. If we are going to survive we will need a lot of innovation. And the young Doctor Akagi is the most brilliant scientist I met since Yui Ikari."

_Great. He is in full professor mode. Ugn, I hope this turns out right!_  
Misato had put on her grim deep-thought face. She did not like what Fuyutsuki had told her but that did not make it any less true. The Mayor was very intelligent in her own way. She was no scientific genius like her friend but that was more because she lacked interest - and the capability to sit down for a couple of days to seriously study material. The Deputy Director was right. Democracy was of no use to them right now and that left only NERV to get things done. It was not that much of a difference to how things were done in Tokyo 3 before Third Impact after all.

"Guess there is no way around it. I accept! So lets get this started already, we have wasted enough time!"

"Excellent! I will expect a draft of your plans tomorrow afternoon."

With that he left Misato to her duties, who had just grown yet again.  
_Wait, does that mean more paperwork? This is gonna suck!_  
Her forehead struck the table with a loud _tuck_ and a low moan escaped her throat.

* * *

Shinji felt quite comfortable.

A week after the initial excitement things had slowed down a lot. At least for him.  
Mostly the grown-ups left Shinji alone. Misato was there for him, but most of the time she had better things to do then constantly look after him. Still she checked in with him at least twice a day. Other than that he had no obligations and spent his days in solitude.

They had arrived and settled orbit around Gliese only days after he first woke. On the surface the red dwarf was plainly visible, its orange with a hint of red light gave the impression of an eternal sunset. He thought the scenery was quite beautiful and spend many hours 'topside', as Misato kept calling the surface.

He was mostly alone up there. Not many had the stomach to visit the haunted place without necessity. Most people only came up to gather some personal belongings and various goods like sleeping bags and tents. Tokyo 3 was in the process of being looted, but its looters where exceedingly gentle.

It had been quickly decided that they would wake all the sleepers and set them to work. Tokyo 3 was in a bad shape after the last fight and getting resources to repair the damage would be scarce. Already the first work crews had begun to clear the debris in and around the pyramid that formed Nerv HQ while others set up shelters for the roughly 50.000 people awake, less than ten percent of the entire population. Ten Percent of the entire human race. A daunting thought.

Misato was worried about him. He could tell. From her questions and remarks, he gathered that she was afraid he would lapse back into his old solitary seeking self.  
And she was right.  
After the initial surge of hope, his first stab at true happiness, fate yet again decided to squarely hit him in the balls. Here he was, his friends still in hibernation, his mother still inside that _thing_ while none - from Ritsuko to Emi and their access to all the data in the world - seemed to know how to get her out of it, Rei was nowhere to be found and Asuka was still trapped inside her Unit Two, providing gravity to the Black Moon.  
The last was somehow the worst of all. Shinji was not entirely sure why.

For the first time in many years he actually felt painfully lonely. After his father abandoned him he had felt like this and it took him more than a year to get over it in a fashion. Because he was ignored by most people be used his solitary as a kind of armour. Being lonely became both the source and the coping mechanism for his misery.  
Until he was called to Tokyo 3.  
Now he had friends, people who cared about him, had drawn him out. And while he was certain that he wanted them back he had once again embraced his solitude.

For now, he waited. There was nothing to be done.

* * *

The small, but growing tent city outside headquarters had the feel of a refugee camp. Not surprisingly, in a certain sense it was precisely that.

However unlike most other such camps this one was bustling with energy and purpose, the refugees determined and eager to get some sort of normality back. Tokyo 3 had attracted a very peculiar kind of citizens. All over the age of 25 were survivors of second impact and the bad times that followed after. Human society had not crashed, but it was a near thing. There was plenty of misery even in a stable and developed country as Japan. And it required a certain mixture of bravery, stubbornness and grim determination to hold out in a city which basic function was to be a punching bag for the Angels.  
Its inhabitants were used to rebuilding.

Almost all current inhabitants where part of Tokyo 3's work force - builders, mechanics, engineers. And just after they had made the camp almost habitable, not the crowded mess it was a week ago, the order came to relocate.  
They were not pleased.  
At least the steady flux of newly decanned sleepwalkers meant that the process would be quicker. Only a small part of the current campers - as they called themselves in contrast to the NERV staff that mostly slept in the pyramid - had been awake for more than three days. Yet true to their Human nature they already classified people based on when they were woken. People still in hibernation were 'canned', freshly 'decanned' were called 'sleepwalkers' because of their addled or vacant expressions and those that had over that phase were the 'woken'.  
The NERV staff was not included in this. They were simply 'that bunch in the pyramid' or - only muttered when none of the Section 2 agents that policed the camp were near - less pretty names.

* * *

While the camp was moved further from the pyramid, the engineers were called to a meeting almost to a man. Only the most junior ones were left to oversee the move.

The meeting was held in a medium sized auditorium inside the pyramid, that was remarkably intact. After everyone was set they all regarded the two women in front with wariness - both of them were in uniform.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Mayor Misato Katsuragi, this is Lieutenant Maya Ibuki. I've been tasked to oversee the necessary changes that will keep us alive in the years to come. As you have doubtless heard after you were woken, Earth is gone. We can't go back there and even this star system is nothing but a short respite. Going back to the pods in hope to wake up in paradise might be an option, but we want to keep that as a last resort.

"Our situation is not so bad for the moment, but will take a downward turn if we don't act now. Luckily we have a plan. You are here to forge this plan into reality. We need three things: food, energy and a place to live. For the later, the city above itself is not an option. We are in space and that means we could loose our atmosphere at a moments notice. Not to mention we are exposed to anything that comes flying our way. The old buildings are not airtight, but the geofront nearly is. We want to seal the inside but that's not enough. We want you to plan a single, giant housing complex, an Arkology, completely airtight and modular in concept so that we can add new space if needed. This will be the centre of human society! People should be able to live their lives completely inside the structure. Hopefully we wont need it for too long, but chances are we will be stuck here for a while. Questions?"

There were a lot of them. From professional questions about construction material - a problem but they would first cannibalize the broken buildings and raid Gee at some point - they spiralled down to more accusatory questions like who put NERV in charge. Misato had expected the last question and came prepared.

"This is not why we here. But very well, I can see we wont get anywhere if I don't answer. Look around. We are standing amidst the ruins of our civilization! Earth is gone! And you know why? Because some old farts wanted to play gods! NERV was the only organization that stood up for humanity. We wanted to build a future after Second Impact. Sadly that would never have happened. We had lost to the Angels the moment those idiots had triggered Second Impact. That's right: Second Impact was planned. Shocking I know. Still we fought but in case things did not go well our founding mothers had an escape plan. You are seeing it now. This is it. And look how far they have brought us! We are in a foreign star system, twenty light years from Earth!

"But they could not do everything for us, so we now have to pick up the pieces and start over. We have an opportunity and I for one intent to seize it. But be honest. Democracy is a wonderful thing, but imagine how long it would take to actually get things done! It will take the better part of two months to actually wake up all those who still sleep! By then we could have already started building. By then we need to start building because in a year we will run out of food!

"NERV is the best and sadly only choice we all have. But you know we get things done. You were there when the Angels attacked Tokyo 3. Surely you can remember that we always give our best. And we wont make the choices all by ourselves. I ask you to plan the Arkology. Other than that you are free to make suggestions and work out the details. I have faith in you. You can do it! Have faith in us that we only have your best interests in mind. Does that answer you questions?"

Apparently Misatos small speech calmed the worst of the storm and the engineers turned back to the professional aspects of their task. The two NERV officers stepped back while the engineers battled over big and small things.

After two hours a consensus was formed over the basic shape and size of project. The Arkology would take the shape of a pyramid, to more evenly distribute the weight. It would be massive, the base lines at least four kilometres in length, the whole structure at least a kilometre in height. After a while Misato decided it was time to drop the next bomb.

"Thank you all for your contribution to this project. But for now we must put the Arkology aside. I am sure there will be plenty of time in future meetings to address every aspect of the undertaking.

"Housing is not our only concern. In fact it is one of the least. The biggest issues are food and water. We currently have some fifty square kilometres surface area but most of it is not suitable to farming. We might be able to cultivate some food down here but I would rather leave that as a backup plan. We might need the space later on. I think our best course of action is to use the skyscrapers and convert them into algae plantations. Maya show them the slides.

"As you can see this is a concept from before Second Impact. They never went through with it though, as there was no need. The idea is to strip the buildings down to their bones and outfit them with several glass compartments filled with water and algae. Thoughts?"

Again the assembly spiralled down into technobabble. Questions about feasibility where asked but most agreed that it was doable. They even put forth an idea of their own: retractable panels like satellites use for electricity, only for food could fan out around the Black Moon. They argued that if they moved away from stars most of the time, that design would provide the plants with light even when moving.  
Maya quickly shot that idea down, as the Black Moon would not stay long in range of any star. It boggled the mind of most but at at steady acceleration of one g they could cross star systems in days instead of years.

It put things in perspective. The voyage from Earth had taken them over forty years at a top speed just short of half the speed of light. And Gliese was on of the nearest stars, just twenty light years from Earth. Between the stars was where the vastness of space truly began.

In the end they decided to split into four task groups. The two largest would focus on the Arkology and the 'green towers'. The two smaller groups would be in charge of infrastructure and material procurement. Misato was relieved that the engineers where so focused. She had expected a lot more argument but she guessed they were like scientists. Give them a complicated problem to mull over and all other worries were at least temporarily forgotten.

* * *

Soon after that fateful meeting something returned to Tokyo 3. No one saw the capsule land behind a mountain and Emi's sensors were curiously oblivious to the intrusion. A single man exited the small compartment that held a tank of red liquid, a few rations and a lot of monitoring equipment.

He put away his trademark glasses and together with his first genuine smile in what seemed many years he appeared to be a completely different man. Briskly he set to hide his arrival. Through hidden passages he moved down into the geofront and disappeared into the crowd.

The show belonged to others. For now.

* * *

"Doctor Akagi, may I have a moment of your time?"

Ritsuko looked up to the small holographic projector that currently displayed Emi's blue representation. She had installed that device after she realized just how disconcerting talking to a disembodied voice was. It made her feel like she should see a shrink.

"Yes, what is it Emi," asked the scientist. She was deeply enveloped in her work. Misato's plan required her to develop highly efficient crops and algae. It came as a small surprise that Director Fuyutsuki had a vast knowledge in this field, as he had worked on a similar project in his post-doc years. She had been tempted to decline, but Emi never interrupted her if it wasn't important.

"I wanted to inform you that a probe I have sent out during our flight has returned. It has touched down outside Tokyo 3," the AI informed her.

"And what was the purpose of this probe?"

"Doctor, as you know it took us forty 40.467 years to reach Gliese 581. Doctor Soryu felt it necessary to limit our speed to half the speed of light, although we could have attained higher speeds. However at that time, it was not known how high relativistic speeds would influence human physiology and if the AT-field that protects the Black Moon can shield it from the high energy impacts. Travelling at half the speed of light was a compromise and a gamble. Forty years is a long time for machinery without maintenance. Another ten years and the first hibernation pods would have failed. Another twenty and only the Evangelions and their pilots would have been left."

Ritsuko knew that to be true. Most of her staff was currently focused on repairing systems that might become critical in the near future. The computer system was barely functional, only one in about ten machines was still working. Only redundant planing that would have been over the top in any other situation allowed Emi to still function. Spare parts had been found in some hidden storage rooms that could be used to restore the system, but the data was another problem. Backups had been made, but it was tedious work to restore everything from magnetic tape.

The MAGI were slightly better off and yet the worst. The damage degradation over the years had done was repairable but it would take time and effort. Unlike in a classic computer, the important parts in a biological one could not simply be exchanged for new ones. For now they were working, but barely.

"The probe was sent out to explore the effects of high speed flights," Emi continued. "It is equipped with a range of sensors and a custom made hibernation pot to hold a test animal. Most of the data has to be retrieved by hand, but the signals I receive indicate a successful mission."

"Hrm. I can't go right now," Ritsuko replied after half a minute of consideration. "I'm in the middle of something and would rather not interrupt it. Could you please pass on a message to Lieutenant Hyuga that he is in charge of the retrieval? Make sure he takes a veterinarian with him to check on the animal and that I get a preliminary report as soon as they bring the probe in. They can deposit it in Bay 5 for the moment. Is that all for now?"

"Yes, Doctor Akagi. Logging you out."

* * *

Two months had passed since they had established orbit. Most people had been woken by now. Work crews still scourged the surface but most debris had been cleaned and put to use somewhere else. There was the occasional argument and not everyone was happy with how things were handled, but for the most part the people seemed content to focus on their work. They had a lot to forget.

The area around Nerv headquarters was bustling with activity. It was decided that the Arkology should surround the smaller pyramid, making the later the heart of the new city. Already the foundations had been laid and the crews in the workshops topside were working furiously to supply the necessary materials. At the current rate, the project would be completed in another three months. The green towers were already standing for the most part, the old skyscrapers picked clean of anything valuable and fitted with watertight glass chambers. Already every suitable space had been converted into farm land and the nearby lake now hosts a fish farm. The first harvests were due in a month. However, raw materials were running low. Soon they would need to land on Gee in order to restock. Most importantly they would need fresh water for the green towers.

* * *

Shinji was frustrated. In search for something to do, he had taken to cultivating watermelons like Kaji had done. Misato had indulged and helped him by securing a small field for his sole use. The reason for his frustration were several withered plants. Around his small garden, rice and wheat thrived, yet his melons would not grow. He had taken great care to educate himself on the needs of the plant and had been diligent in following every instruction but to no avail.  
_And I was looking forward to present Misato some watermelons. Why are those stupid plants not growing!_

He took his farming tools back to the small shack he had build with Toji's help. His friend was his old, solid self, not the crippled, miserable figure he had been after his own brush with Angels and Evangelions. Most of the time he was working on the construction sites. With school on hold for the time being, Shinji did not see his friends often but occasionally they would spend some time together. It was not exactly like old times, but for the moment it was enough that they were here.

Shinji made his way home. Unlike most people, he and Misato lived inside Nerv HQ. There were some rooms that had mostly been used by scientist that needed to stay near their experiments but still needed to bunk down somewhere. They were nice enough but they shared the kitchen and a small common room with almost ten other people. Shinji felt crowded but Misato did not seem to mind, although she wore slightly less revealing casual clothes. Emphasis on slightly - Makoto was still prone to getting a nosebleed when they met in the common room or the kitchen, something that amused Misato to no end.

Since it was still early in what passed for a day, the space was almost deserted. Only on other living being was sitting in the common room, nursing a drink.

"Whark! Whark!"

"Hello Pen-Pen. I'll get you some food in a minute. Just let me shower first."

They had found the penguin in the pod that gave of anomalous readings. Misato still laughed her ass off, every time she recalled Ritsukos dumbfolded expression, as the animal nonchalantly strut out of the tube. Only giving a indigent _Wark_ towards Misato. Emi was the first to recover, commenting how unexpected it was and continued to theorize that the penguin must have some sense of self to land up in one of the hibernation pods.  
_Some sense of self indeed._

After his shower Shinji made to prepare food for the people that would show up soon. It had become a ritual of sorts and made him feel needed, cooking for others, and he made a point in taking great care in it. He once got complemented that despite the awful ingredients he was able to create something tasty every time. He had flushed with embarrassment but it had felt nice.

Today Ritsuko arrived first, as she had pulled an all nighter and was intent to correct her routine by going to bed early.  
_Maybe I should just ask her?_

Undecided Shinji observed the scientist as she poured herself a glass of water.

"Something on your mind, Shinji?"

"No. I mean yes. Ah. could I ask you something Ritsuko-sensei? See, I have been trying to raise watermelons. I have followed every instruction but they wont grow right," stammered the boy.

"Hmm. I don't know. Plants aren't my speciality, I'm struggling with them as it is, and sadly I haven't got the time to research your particular problem. I am sorry. But you know what? Director Fuyutsuki knows a lot about this stuff. Maybe you should ask him."

"I. I. I don't think Director Fuyutsuki will want to help me. It's just a silly thing anyway. It's no bother really."

The idea of speaking to Gendo's right hand man filled Shinji with dread. Not because of the man himself, but because of his connection to his father.  
G_uess I have to give up on the watermelons._

"Nonsense Shinji. In fact, I'm sure the Professor will be delighted to help you out. Did you know your mother was his favourite student? Promise me, you will ask him. The worst thing that could happen is for him to say no, right?"

_Director Fuyutsuki knew my mother? Why hasn't anyone told me?_  
"I guess you are right, Ritsuko-sensei. I will talk to him tomorrow."

"Of course I'm right! Now, what's for dinner?" the blonde scientist peered expectantly into the pot. The content was barely more then slush but it actually smelled quite nice.

* * *

Kozo was indeed happy to listen to Shinjis little problem.

He endured the stammering boy with a kind expression on his face, something Shinji had not expected and actually made his stammering worse. After the youth had explained his problem, the old man sighed and started an impromptu lecture about the deeper mysteries of biology. Shinji listened attentively.

"... So you see, the redder light of Gliese is the cause that your watermelons are not growing properly. The wheat and rice we use are a special kind that was cultured specifically for high latitudes, but your watermelons are not. Sadly, breeding a more adapted variety is not possible and might be useless in the next system. You could try genetic engineering but that's even more complicated. The benefit would be, that you could crate any variation you could possibly need with not much extra effort. However, you would need to study a lot before you can even get started with the actual work. "

But if you are seriously interested I could tutor you in the basics. Not right now of course, the next couple of months will be quite intense. I can give you some reading material for now, but any serious studies will have to wait. That reminds me, I have to talk with Mayor Katsuragi about education. Never mind. You don't have to make up your mind any time soon, but you might want to give those books I mentioned a look. What do you say?"

Shinji, who had until now kept his eyes on the old man was averting them once more. Hearing and seeing the professor talk about his subject had been fascinating. The usually stoic man came alive with enthusiasm when talking about biology. The spell was now over but some of it still lingered and gave Shinji a little bit more confidence he would normally have.

"I... I think I would like to read more about the subject. Do you really think this genetic engineering could make the watermelons grow?"

"I am certain. Doctor Akagi could solve the problem in a month, maybe two. But right now she has other things to do," with that Kozo stood from his desk and walked to a bookcase in the back of his office. For a moment he seemed to ponder which books to take but then continued to speak.

"You know, your mother would be quite proud of your interest in biology. Ever since you were little she knew you would become something special."

"R.. Really? Did you knew her?" stammered Shinji while Fuyutuski piled some books on the table.

"Yes, I knew her. I was her mentor in her early years at the university. We remained good friends after she married your father. And of course she would be proud. You saved the world a dozen times over! And now you are showing an interest in _her_ field."

"Mother..." muttered Shinji with a far away look on his face, to quite for the other man to hear.

"Here you go," Kozo put down the last of the books with a loud _thud_, startling the boy. They formed quite a pile. "Now, I don't expect you to understand everything right away. Start with this book and then that one. They should be easy enough to comprehend for someone at your level. The other ones are more detailed. Read the first couple of chapters and write down any questions you have. Don't bother about the details, those will make sense in time. When you are finished or when you run into problems come back and we will discuss your questions. Now off you go."

"Hai! Thank you, Fuyutsuki-sensei!" Shinji scooped up his reading material and left the room, trying to maintain the precarious balance of the book pile.

After he was gone, Kozo stood and closed the door behind the boy, softly chuckling to himself.

* * *

Misato and Kozo stood together in one of the hibernation rooms. This was one of several which still held sleeping bodies in it. There had been a long debate whether to wake them or not but they were running out of time. Today they would decide.

"I still don't like it," Misato was the first to speak, breaking the silence. "They attacked us. I can't just forget about that. They tried to kill Shinji!"

"I don't like it either, but we need them. Besides they just followed orders. Orders, no doubt given by Seele. They were the true enemy. These soldiers were just pawns," answered her superior with a dismissive flick of his hand. "But I agree, we should be careful. Has Doctor Akagi been able to override the door mechanism?"

"Yes. Emi will open the door only to us. She wont be compelled by any commands given by them. We will start with the officers but keep them inside the glass tube for the interrogation. If we don't like what we hear, we can always put them back to sleep."

The pair lapsed back into silence once more.

"Very well. I think it is time. Emi, please wake up General Saito," the final decision was Kozo Fuyutsuki's. Had Misato argued more vehemently he might have listened to her, but at it was they both knew, sooner or later they would need the two thousand soldiers. They could not count on the galaxy being friendly. Waking them sooner might be perceived as a peace offering, waking them later would bring the advantage of dropping them into an established society, making it more difficult for them to create a stir.

The two masters of Nerv watched as the tube was drained of LCL.

"You know, we should consider renaming the organization. Nerv has done its job and we have to look towards the future. At some time we might want to open up, let people join if they want to," mused Misato.

"You are probably right, Mayor. We will discuss it as soon as your Arkology is finished."

The man inside the tube was on his knees, vomiting up the red fluid. Misato observed him closely. He seemed to be vulnerable, but the soldier in her was not fooled. The General took the opportunity to appraise his surroundings.  
_Smart move. But it wont do you any good. You are captured in a glass cell and you are naked. But we will wait._

Finally the retching stopped. Apparently finished with his covert scrutiny the leader of the JSSDF strike force stood at attention, displaying no shame at his state of undress.

"Welcome General Saito. Let me introduce us. I'm the Director of Nerv, Kozo Fuyutsuki and this is my second in command, Mayor Misato Katsuragi. But I expect you know us, or of us." Kozo tried the jovial approach. Misato did not think it would work and was unsurprised at the reaction.

"My name is Motomu Saito, General in the JSSDF, service number 56378. I will not answer your questions." Misato let out an exasperated sigh.  
_Great. The General thinks he is a prisoner of war. This is going to be fun. Not. Guess there is only one way out of this._

"Director, may I? I don't think this is going to work just with words. Let's show him."

Kozo considered the suggestion carefully. After two minutes the Director seemed to had made his decision.

"Emi, please inform Mister Hatsumoto that we require a security detail to escort General Saito to the surface. Unlock the door as soon as they have arrived. Mayor, would you find some clothes for the General and open the tube. Thank you."

While Misato went in search for some clothes the two old men enjoyed a good old staring match. Kozo had a soft smirk on his face, while his opponent's face was carefully devoid of any emotion. That was about to change.

* * *

Misato was sitting in front of Kozo's desk. Dealing with the JSSDF had been surprisingly simple as soon as their officers had grasped the new situation. Over the next week the soldiers would be woken and distributed across the work force. The intent was for them to be partially assimilated. They would need them as soldiers soon enough, but they had to become a part of the whole effort first.

"That went rather well. Better than I expected in fact." This time it was Kozo that broke the silence first. "You think there will be trouble?"

"Oh, there will be trouble, but nothing that we can't handle. Some arguments here, a brawl there, but I don't expect a coup any time soon. We made it pretty clear that without the Evangelions we are stuck here. General Saito doesn't appear to be a fool and from what I remember he has his troops firmly under control. We might want to include him into some decisions as soon as possible, but for now we are good. Still, we will watch the soldiers closely. Emi will be a great help there.

"I'm more worried about our landing on Gee. We still don't know much about the surface. Emi was able to send a few drones but there seems to be a lot of interference. We were lucky enough to get some data from the probes, but only a few short scraps of video. There are plants of some sort and we think we have seen something that could have been an animal but the static was bad. The surface seems nice enough but I don't like going in blind. And the storms make me nervous. We will need at least a month to gather all the things we will need. That means we will either need to leave the planet to avoid the storm or just weather it."

"Speaking of that. Have you talked to Shinji? We will need him in the Evangelion to make it through the atmosphere. Make sure he is ready for it."

"I'm not concerned about Shinji. He will do it, he actually looks forward to it. Believe it or not. I have a feeling he actually misses it. Not the fighting of course but the Evangelion itself. Strange, don't you think? Anyway waking Asuka might become problematic. She wont like to have been woken last. But I'll handle her. It's just teenage melodrama, she will come round."

Kozo did not respond immediately. He was a thinker and spoke rarely without knowing what to say unlike a certain Mayor. Before that woman could start to fidget as she usually did when the silence stretched to long he addressed her again.

"I see you have everything under control. One last thing. When the Arkology is finished I will retire as Director of Nerv. You will be in charge after me, while I will organize the education in our brave new world. Dismissed"

* * *

The mother was young for one of her kind. Young and inexperienced and not well thought of. That was why they had sent her to this boring planet without much potential. To add insult to injury the stupid rock was near an active war zone. Sooner or later one of the more potent combatants would come and either assimilate or destroy her.

Still she knew her place and did what her nature demanded of her. The planet had been home to a strange people, barely out of their Iron Age. They had been ridiculously easy to subjugate and now their twisted descendants, no more then mindless drones that did her bidding, were hers to use as she saw fit. Now she was experimenting, for she was expecting her sisters or cousins to visit soon. She really had no chance but she would try her best to withstand them. If only they would leave her alone for another millennium or two, then she might be ready. But she had heard the song of her loathed family. Soon they would clash and then whoever was left would come for her.

What was this? One of her drones had witnessed something unusual. Something had fallen out of the sky. Was it one of her cousin's heralds? Had he decided to divert his route and come for her first? She strained to hear the tell tale whisperings would announce one as him, but there were none. But there - unexpected and faint but undeniable was a different song.

Faintly, she heard the song of one of her sisters near her rock. But how could that be? If one of her sisters was anywhere in this system she would have heard her! A lesser part might escape her notice, but unlike her cousins, she and her sisters could never part with even the least of their drones. Yet here was a lesser part, singing the tune of the mothers, far away from its own mother. Curious the mother decided to watch.

For now.


End file.
